


To face forward once again

by Soggychan



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (Video Game), ラブライブ! 虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会 | Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Anime)
Genre: Emotional, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Kanata should have won
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28243365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soggychan/pseuds/Soggychan
Summary: Even with the passage of time, Rina still doesn't know how to feel. Luckily for her, Kasumi and Shizuku are always there for her
Relationships: Nakasu Kasumi/Ousaka Shizuku/Tennouji Rina
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	To face forward once again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ethanol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethanol/gifts).



> Kanata should have won
> 
> This was from losing a bet, but still pretty fun to write. I didn't want this to be delayed forever so I posted it, but I'd like to do a scene like this again with maybe 2-3k words.

“Oi, Rinako! What are you doing here?” After exhaustively searching the whole school, Kasumi had decided in all her ingenuity the best place to check last was Rina’s classroom. And, of course, there sat Rina, board on her desk, staring out the window as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Rina turned at the sound of Kasumi’s voice and gave a small shrug. “Kasumi-chan…”

Barging over, Kasumi slid herself onto the desk in front of Rina. “I’ve been looking all over the place for you while waiting for Shizuko’s practice to finish. Shizuko wanted to have dinner together, remember? Come on!” Kasumi grabbed Rina’s sleeve and pulled her up; she didn’t receive much resistance.

Rina stood but stopped in place, not following Kasumi who had started the walk from the classroom. Instead, she stayed in place, her eyes fixed on the Rina-chan board, still resting on the desk, the sharp lines of the smile a stark contrast to the blank stare. Kasumi started to speak up but gulped down her words. With more tentative steps this time, she walked over to stand next to Rina.

“Rinako…”

“I…” Rina reached out for the board, running a finger along it before meeting eyes with Kasumi. “I don’t know… what face I should be showing…” She flipped over a page on her board, this one comically sad. “Should I be crying? Or should I try to laugh and forget? I… don’t know.”

Kasumi placed a hand over hers, forcing Rina’s eyes back on her. “Nobody can tell you what you should feel, Rinako. It’s okay to be sad, to cry. Kasumin and Shizuko are here for you, you know?”

As if on cue, Shizuku arrived at the door, sweat dripping down her forehead. “Ha… S-Sorry I’m late. Since the play is next week, practice has been getting pretty intense. The President wanted us to stay lon…” She trailed off, glancing between the two. Normally, Kasumi would have been ecstatic to see her and Rina would have flipped her board up with a big smile and jumped over as well. But they both just stood there. Kasumi looked like she was trying to signal something about Rina and, given recent events, it wasn’t exactly hard for Shizuku to figure it out.

“Shizuku-chan…”

“S-Shizuko!” Kasumi waved her over and Shizuku took slow steps, still looking between them, making sure she wasn’t mistaking the situation for something it wasn’t.

Kasumi tilted her head in Rina’s direction and Shizuku nodded, taking her last step to stand right next to Rina. “Rina-san, are you feeling alright?”

Once again, Rina’s eyes drifted to the board. She flipped the page, going from the tearful expression to an excited one. And then again, from that to her interpretation of a serious expression. “The Rina-chan board has so many faces… Ai-san made sure I could always tell how I felt. Happy, sad, scared, tired… But…” Both Kasumi and Shizuku sucked in a breath as Rina turned back to them, expressionless as ever, but with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I still… don’t know what to show.”

Kasumi went into full panic mode, grabbing Rina’s hand again and squeezing it between hers. “It’s okay, Rinako! You don’t have to worry about that in front of us! Shizuko and I know how you feel no matter what! After all, we wouldn’t all be together like this if we thought we couldn’t at least do that!”

“Kasumi-chan…”

Shizuku took Rina’s free hand in hers, managing a smile through the pain that struck her heart. “Kasumi’s right, Rina-san. Besides… It’s been hard on all of us. But I know you’ve been in more pain than any of us. Suddenly feeling all of that must be confusing, right? You have so many feelings mixing around that you’re not sure where to start.” Rina gave a small nod. “That’s why, you don’t have to worry about being confused. Take your time. You can work them out one at a time if need be. And Kasumi-san and I will be along the entire way. That way, you never have to panic. You never have to be scared of those feelings. If you are, just take our hands like this. And then, even if you don’t think you can show it, even if you’re not sure if it’ll make it through that crowd of emotions, we’ll give you our smiles, our feelings.”

“That’s right!” Kasumi jumped back in, giving that ‘true idol smile,’ her self-proclaimed best smile. “We’ll always be here for you, Rinako! Kasumin won’t ever let you be alone! Right, Shizuko?”

Shizuku giggled and nodded. “Of course.” She ran a thumb across Rina’s cheek, relieved to see the tears she wiped weren’t replaced with more. She let go of Rina’s hand to pick up the board and hand it to her. “I’m sure that’s what Ai-san did for you as well. When you created this board together, she shared her feelings with you. And I think that’s something amazing. I bet Ai-san was very happy to see how much you grew in such a short time. I’m sure she’s still looking down and cheering you on even now.”

“Mm! Mm! I bet Ai-senpai’s right behind you the whole way too! Oh! But Kasumin won’t lose!” Kasumi wrapped Rina in a hug, giving her a couple squeezes for good measure. “Kasumin’s love will never lose!”

Shizuku leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Rina’s cheek. “I won’t lose either.” She gave a light laugh and leaned back. “I’m sure Ai-san’s having a big laugh looking at us now.”

“Ai-senpai did have a big laugh when we told her the three of us were getting together. Remember, she would make jokes about us every day!”

Rina’s eyes drifted back to the board as Kasumi separated from her to look at Shizuku. She flipped through a few pages before coming to a smile with tears running down the eyes. Ai really did think of every little emotion she might have had. Rina brought the board up to her face. “Rina-chan board…” She paused, causing an exchange of concerned glances between Kasumi and Shizuku. But the board slowly lowered until it fell below Rina’s lips which curled into a small smile. “Shizuku-chan… Kasumi-chan…”

_Ai-san… for all the feelings you gave me… for pushing me forward all this time… for everything…_

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Till next time. Be seeing you.


End file.
